First Hit: A predictable and delightful film that keeps the legend alive.
This is a World War II story as told by an old Angus MacMorrow. He is telling some young people about himself as a young boy.
As the story goes, Angus (played by Alex Etel) finds a barnacle encrusted egg on the shore of a local Loch. He takes the egg back to his house and starts to pry it open but he gets called away. When he returns he finds the egg broken open and an odd looking creature mucking about in the tool shed.
After feeding the creature a whole barrel of scraps, he discovers that it likes water. It accidentally ends up in the house and in the bathtub performing wonderful water tricks. In a matter of hours the creature really begins to grow by leaps and bounds. It escapes the clutches of a dog, gets chased out of the house and ends up in a fountain where it grows to more than 4 feet.
In the meantime, his mom, played by Emily Watson, is the head caretaker of the large house near the Loch where they live. She hires Lewis Mowbray, a handyman, to help with the household chores.
Lewis (played by Ben Chaplin) recognizes the creature as a Water Horse, from a legendary tale, and after finding it in the fountain sets it free in the Loch where the Water Horse grows to be more than 20 feet high.
The town hears of it through two old fishermen who see it swimming on the Loch, as do some of the British Army personnel located there to prevent German submarines from entering the Loch. A couple of the Army men believe the Water Horse to be a menace and try to kill it but the boy saves the day.
The acting is good (not great) and this is a fantasy story. The effects of the Water Horse are especially good when it is small and one could actually think this animal (like a dog or seal) really exists.
There are a couple funny encounters between the characters and the Water Horse along with a couple of funny scenes between a bull dog and the Water Horse.
Overall: This is enjoyable and a pretty good children’s story.